The Contextual Electronics Podcast

CEP015 – Finishing Prototypes with Zack Freedman

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This is a crossover episode with The Amp Hour podcast (also made by Chris)

Welcome, Zack Freedman of Voidstar Lab

Zack Freedman is a prototyping engineer turned YouTuber who makes bombastic videos about 3D printed creations and getting projects across the finish line. He joins Chris to talk about his past hardware designs and what he will be building next.

Show Notes
  • 0:00 Introduction
  • 2:05 What Zack is building (a computer)
  • 2:40 A water cooled oscilloscope
  • 3:40 How Zack got started
  • 4:40 Hackaday article
  • 5:20 Bluetooth heads up display
  • 5:40 Hoboken Hackerspace
  • 7:15 NYC electronics scene
  • 8:30 Working with artists
  • 10:00 Working on the set of Mr Robot
  • 11:05 Doing a first run prototype for a startup
  • 13:10 Building skills in high pressure environments and on consulting jobs
  • 17:45 Working on deadlines
  • 19:10 How many projects are in a single video?
  • 20:45 Building subassemblies
  • 21:30 Building projects “backwards” (outside in)
  • 23:00 Not thinking your idea is the last good idea you’ll ever have
  • 24:15 The prototyping mindset
  • 27:00 Ranking risk in a project
  • 29:15 Usability in wearable projects
  • 31:30 “The role of most prototypes is to try to kill the idea”
  • 33:30 What makes people want to buy a prototype?
  • 35:45 Minimizing features in any one prototype / test
  • 36:30 Consumer products should be shown to thousands before going to market
  • 38:00 YouTubers’ battle for attention (check out Voidstar Lab to see all of Zack’s videos)
  • 41:00 YouTube theories
  • 44:45 Zack’s persona
  • 47:00 Filming b-roll to keep things interesting
  • 51:00 YouTube comment positivity
  • 52:25 Maker Twitter
  • 54:00 Full time YouTube
  • 54:20 Changes in the hardware space since 2012
  • 56:40 Prototyping tools
  • 58:30 “The Maker Movement”
  • 59:25 Working for industrial clients
  • 1:01:40 Focusing on the technology vs the purpose of the technology
  • 1:03:30 Building a project because you want the thing (output)
  • 1:05:30 Technology being used to move the world forward
  • 1:07:15 What will Zack build in the future?
  • 1:09:40 The Cyberdeck
  • 1:12:15 Cyberdeck cafe Discord
  • 1:13:10 Building on a stream vs on a video (streams happen on Zack’s Patreon every Monday and Friday)
  • 1:14:40 Previously wanting to go into game design
  • 1:16:30 Providing a representation of what people think the process is
  • 1:17:20 People think IronMan is reality
  • 1:18:20 Bringing people into the field
  • 1:20:25 “Finish more projects”
  • 1:23:30 Going beyond the getting started projects
  • 1:26:20 People genuinely interested in a topic will skip beginner classes
  • 1:27:35 Engineering is intrinsically solitary
  • 1:29:30 Trying to figure out gender discrepancies in making
  • 1:31:05 “What’s it like to put yourself out there?”
  • 1:32:30 Putting yourself out there will help you find more positive feedback
  • 1:35:05 Building community
  • 1:37:00 Finding Zack’s work and joining his community
    • Patreon
    • YouTube
    • Discord
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • 1:38:40 Conclusion

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